Wonderful to rubbish meditations!

“I am still meditating and most days I manage at least one session. I find I need to set aside half an hour – 5 minutes settling down time – 20mins meditation and then 5mins considering the previous 20mins and preparing to get on with the rest of the day.
My meditations range from wonderful, fulfilling experiences to ‘rubbish’. That said, as the day goes on after a ‘rubbish’ one I often find that it couldn’t have been as rubbish as I thought. Perhaps my day will go better than expected or I’ll get much more done than I thought possible. Maybe as the day progresses I find the ‘molehills’ are no longer ‘mountains’. Husband (Pete) very supportive and encouraging so I’m lucky in that respect and I think if you were to ask him he would definitely site the ‘mountains back into molehills’ as one of the main reasons he finds himself saying “Have you done your meditation yet?”
Hazel, Malton, North Yorks.

TM for high flyers

“I’m still doing TM every day, twice, as recommended. While I can normally practise in the comfort of home, I have done my meditation on buses, trains and even in a central London bookshop!
It’s making a very noticeable difference in my life. I won’t describe myself as “Superwoman” (maybe “a work in progress”!), but I am much calmer and more ‘together’. I was very surprised 2 days ago, on the flight out of Blackpool, when I didn’t get the usual “nerves” flying that I normally do (I hate heights and closed in spaces after getting stuck in a lift by myself in Japan during an earth tremor)! In fact, I was able to look out of the window during and after take off and it’s one of the most comfortable plane journeys I’ve had for over 40 years.”
Sarah, Manchester

If at first you don’t succeed!

Happy 2013 everyone, here’s a good twist on a TM testimonial, the moral being if at first you don’t succeed, don’t “try” so hard the second time around :
“I attended the Manchester course and was the one who didn’t get it. Having given up for the last few months I thought I’d give it another go, and it’s started working for me!
I think before I just had too many expectations so I put far too much pressure on myself to get it to work. Which of course meant it didn’t!
So, just thought I’d let you know so you didn’t continue to think it had failed for me. Who knows, I might even book to come on one of the retreats in the future. But in the meantime I’ll carry on with my practise and just enjoy the benefits as they come.”
Alistair, Wigan

This weeks TM testimonial from Edinburgh

“There are so many benefits I am feeling since I took up TM it is difficult to give just a few. Here are some of them…

Before learning TM I would often have a churning anxious stomach worrying about things and what people thought of me. Now I don’t feel like that. It is like my brain registers my worries but it doesn’t go any further and I rarely feel anxious any more. I just don’t really react to stressful situations by getting stressed any more. My mind and body are calm and relaxed and for the first time in my life I am not worried about what people think of me, I actually feel free. Because of this I am not afraid to speak my mind as I feel calm and clear headed, this has helped me at work and in all other areas of my life helping me gain new confidence. I feel my relationships have improved because I am not irrational and irritated because I am stressed. I realise now that so many of my arguments in the past were down to stress and can see what a harmful affect it was having on my life.

Before I started TM I was so tired after work l would be ready for bed by 9pm. Now I meditate when I get home and it releases energy I didn’t believe I had and I can actually have a full evening not feeling debilitated with exhaustion.

Another benefit is that after having lost 3.5 stone I have managed to maintain this weight loss for 8 months now which I have never been able to do before. Speaking to my doctor about how I have managed to do this I mentioned I now meditate twice a day. He became very interested in this and said that there is research going on at the moment into the stress hormone Cortisol and that as well as being released in your body when you are stressed this hormone also makes your body hold onto fat…a survival mechanism. He said that getting rid of cortisol twice a day from my body through meditation is most likely why I am able to maintain my weight loss.

My meditation time is so precious to me now that I make time whatever I have to do in the day to have my moments of bliss. I feel I can move through stressful situations, clear headed, safe, untouched and calm. Every day I actually feel a real relief that I took up meditation and that I have this amazing tool I can use to help me feel less tired, be able to cope with stress, manage my neck pain and much more.”
Sarah, Edinburgh.

Comments from last weekends Newcastle TM course :

“Thank you so much for such an enlightening experience over the last few days. I am quite certain this marks a major shift in my life. I’m already enjoying the TM experience and this is only the start !”
John, Sunderland

“Very impressed with TM. Feel like I have something to rely on when feeling anxious and stressed” Damon, Lancaster, Lancashire.

“I’ve been sticking to the 20 mins twice a day and it’s been very beneficial to me, especially at work where I just feel a lot calmer and also which I’m loving, is I’ve slept like a baby for the first time in as long as I can remember!”
Justin, Gateshead. Tyne & Wear

“Yes I am another sceptic converted.  Have been feeling the benefits.” Paul, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Down to earth testimonial on TM experience

“My name is Anne, I am 71. I have been meditating for five years. Meditation was suggested by a Sleep Clinic however I have to say the effect on my sleep has not been significant. I know that this is not the case for other people.
I went to the Transcendental Meditation course completely ignorant and innocent of anything to do with TM. I had been to a lovely Yoga/Meditation/Relaxation class for three years with a friend a few years previously, but came to the conclusion that meditation was not for me.

The TM course taught bowled me over. It seemed as if all my birthdays had been rolled into one big birthday! The first year I took my TM instructors advice and was determined just to do it twice a day, to build up the habit. During that first year I had some surprising times during meditation: I saw lovely colours, very bright yellows and reds.
Since then the surprising things have stopped and my meditation seems quite plain, but the benefits are still super. My blood pressure is good, I am able to go about my day in a calm manner, and I do not feel anxious about anything that I have to do. When we are going away for a day I usually leave my meditation to do in the car. It is not quite as good as in the quietness of our home but much better than missing it. I have also practised it on trains and in aeroplanes. One day when we were going on holiday I dashed round all morning getting ready to go and by the end of the morning when we set off I was quite uptight which was surprising and then I realised it was because I had not meditated.
When I have got up late I resented having to meditate before getting on with my day. If this happens I now meditate later on. The teatime slot is something I have to work at fitting in because of not being at home at the same time every day and because of visitors for meals which I have to prepare. Later on during the evening is too late because I fall asleep so sometimes I have to miss the second session but I try hard not to have to do so.”
Anne, Merseyside

TM, jet lag and psoriasis!

“It was the start of 2012, and it had been the holiday of my life. San Francisco, and my first time in the US. But what a long flight out! Nearly an hour from Newcastle to Heathrow, nine hours from Heathrow to Dallas, and a further three hours from Dallas to San Francisco. Jet lag, said Chris? Not a bit, he said; not if you do your TM a couple of times during the journey.

So, I did the first one not long after leaving the UK. By the time I got on the last plane at Dallas, I was absolutely shattered. But, not long after take-off I closed my eyes and started on the second TM session.

I know Chris says we’re not supposed to concentrate on the mantra, we just take it as it comes, he says, but, honestly, everything was conspiring against me! The hubbub inside the plane, my cramped space by the window, and my feelings of absolute and utter tiredness. On top of it all, I couldn’t relax; I couldn’t rest my head against the wall of the plane, I couldn’t keep my feet still, and my arms were twitchy: much frustration. Until. Until I realised it was TM doing one of its functions.
I’ve had it before, when I’m tired, usually towards the end of an exhausting week; TM gets seems to get rid of stress from the mind in the form of twitching of one or more limbs.
So I stuck it out for the full twenty minutes, and more or less from the moment I stopped the mantra, the twitching stopped and the restlessness went from my mind and my body. I actually slept for a little less than an hour before we flew into San Francisco.

And jet lag? Not a bit of it.

At the end of the holiday I had a direct flight back to Heathrow, all ten hours of it. I did two TM sessions on the plane, and, as before, when I got back home, no jet lag.

I’ve been doing TM for over 26 years now.
What got me into TM in the first place? Seeing some strange marks on a friend’s back. When I asked him what they were he told me they were the scars of what psoriasis had done to his skin. The doctors had tried all sorts of remedies, but only TM had worked: TM was the only successful treatment for his psoriasis.

I didn’t have psoriasis, but, a few years later, hoping it would help me in some way, I took up TM myself, and, as they say, I never looked back. It cleared my thinking so incredibly quickly. By that, I mean that before taking up TM, I could see – in retrospect – that my thinking was like water in a glass, but water that was as cloudy as if a Disprin tablet was fizzing away in the water, making it cloudy. I start doing TM, and almost immediately the water went clear; clarity of thought.
Now I can not imagine my life without TM.”
Ken, Darlington.

“The energy boost it gives is miraculous”

Update after meditating for a month (not non-stop, silly!) :
“Just thought I would drop you a line to let you know how I have been getting on with my meditation. Well basically its going fantastic. I am religiously carrying it out twice a day for the correct 20 minute period and have not missed a single one! I absolutely love doing it and cannot believe how it has made me feel and how it makes me feel in general. The energy boost it gives is miraculous and never ceases to amaze me.I find it particularly noticeable when I do it mid afternoon just before I go on the school run because at that time I am normally flagging again and find it hard to summon up the rest of the energy for the latter part of the day, but I no longer find this a problem. Also last night I was up in the night with my daughter and she was not very well, so of course today would normally be a real struggle for me but after carrying out both my meditations today, feel amazing and full of energy. Also I feel in general I am a lot calmer than I was before, the little things that may have wound me up in the past do not bother me as much. One of my friends also saw me about 2 weeks ago and she had not seen me for a while and commented on how I look vibrant and glowing.

So there you have it, cannot praise the TM enough. It is definitely enriching my life for the better.”

Julie, Wigan

Simplicity of Transcendental Meditation

Another in our series of testimonials on TM :

“My experience of learning TM was something I will never forget. I remember in the first session I was gobsmacked at its simplicity! After my first 20 minute meditation I could instantly feel the results!! I felt calmer and had a level of mental clarity that I couldn’t t explain. When meditating regularly it has really helped me with my problems with anxiety!! I wish the government made TM a compulsory part of the national curriculum!!”

Mark, Merseyside